Fraser River Named the Third Most Endangered River in America

IN THE UNITED STATES FOR 2005
American Rivers has listed the Fraser River in Grand County, Colorado, as the third most endangered river in the United States for 2005.

The Fraser, at healthy flows, is a Blue Ribbon trout stream. In fact, the Fraser was President Eisenhower’s favorite fishing water.

Diversions from the Fraser River have had a dramatic impact on the river, reducing its flow by as much as 65%. At times the upper Fraser is almost completely dewatered. Yet current plans would divert even more water from the Fraser and take it to Front Range cities.

Colorado Trout Unlimited and Trout Unlimited’s Colorado Water Project (CWP) joined American Rivers in expressing grave concern about the future of the Fraser, indeed, for the entire upper Colorado River Basin.

Both Denver Water and the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District have plans to take more water from the Fraser and upper Colorado Rivers and move it over the Continental Divide for the rapidly growing Front Range. How these increased diversions are built and operated will determine the fate of these rivers and their Gold Medal fisheries.

Colorado Trout Unlimited and the CWP are actively involved in the planning process for these new diversions and are working to ensure that all potential adverse impacts to the Fraser and upper Colorado are considered and minimized before the new diversions come online.

The Fraser River: Description & Background

The Fraser is the poster child for Colorado’s over-used rivers – its very survival as a flowing stream is threatened.

The Fraser is born at Berthoud Pass, with tributaries flowing in from the Vasquez Mountains and the west slope of the Front Range. It flows down into Winter Park and Fraser, then through ranch land and Tabernash into the Fraser Canyon, which holds a Gold Medal trout fishery. Out of the Canyon it passes through the Sol Vista resort, the town of Granby, and joins with the Colorado River just above Windy Gap Reservoir.

President Eisenhower fished these waters to relieve the pressures of the White House.

The Fraser is threatened both by pollution and diversions. Diversions are its biggest threat. Currently Denver Water siphons nearly 65% of the Fraser’s flow through its Northern Delivery system. In 2002 and 2003 the Fraser very nearly disappeared. Denver has plans to increase their diversions by an additional 18,000 acre feet, bringing their total share of the river to around 85%. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for this planned additional diversion should be released in 2007.

The Fraser’s pollution troubles probably are related to its low flows -- there might not be enough water below the Moffat Tunnel to dilute sufficiently the effluent from waste water treatment plants.

To be fair, Denver Water is not the only diverter from the Fraser, and the Fraser’s condition may not be as dire as the American Rivers report implies. The Towns of Winter Park and Fraser also rely on the river for water, as do large ranches downstream. Ski areas pull water out for snowmaking, and wells deplete the ground water feeding the river during low flow times.

The Fraser is drawn down by many diverters, but the biggest straw is owned by Denver Water.

The DEIS will offer several alternatives by which the proposed Moffat Collection System enlargement might be achieved. If Denver Water opts for a “preferred alternative” that simply takes more water with no consideration for the Fraser River ecosystem or the communities of the Fraser Valley, than the permit for the action should be denied -- as the American Rivers report suggests. Colorado Trout Unlimited and the Colorado Water Project are working with Denver Water and the Fraser Valley communities to make sure the project will benefit the Fraser Valley as well as the Front Range, and keep healthy flows in the Fraser at the same time.

Projects like these are being considered all along the Colorado River headwaters Counties. Much the same scenario is also playing out on the upper Colorado River, at Windy Gap. The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District is planning a project of their own which will increase their diversion from the river by another 28,000 acre feet, or 10,000 acre feet more than Denver is planning to take.

The Statewide Water Supply Initiative, which has been examining the water needs of Colorado, held one of its Basin Roundtable meetings in Glenwood Springs in March 2005. At this meeting a rancher and a water provider’s representative surprised everyone by proposing a “paradigm shift” in the way Colorado thinks about and uses water.

That is exactly what will be needed if we are going to keep alive Colorado’s rivers, natural heritage, and growing recreation economy. Even traditional diverters now are coming to understand that keeping water in-channel has many benefits and may not harm their water rights. We can only hope, with respect to the Fraser in particular, that this new thinking is translated in action, before it dries up entirely… and permanently.